In the chaotic final days of the ultimate parliamentary session of 2024, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese returned to his role in Julia Gillard's government.
He personally intervened within the arguments and negotiations as the federal government struggled to pass as much Labor laws as possible.
The end of a parliamentary yr is often chaos. But the 2024 final was greater than bad. A main minister who likes to say he’s leading an orderly government found himself in a state of chaos, where the method was thrown to the wind and quick fixes and sensible capitulations were the order of the day.
Senators would have expected the suspension of party volcano Lidia Thorpe, the Indigenous independent who defected from the Greens last yr, to remove a distraction in an exciting week. Instead, it added a wild element to Thursday's event when Thorpe shouted from the press box: “Free, free Palestine.” From the river to the ocean”. To prevent a repeat, additional security forces were deployed.
Amid the hustle and bustle, senators took time on Thursday to pay generous tributes to popular Senate opposition leader Simon Birmingham after he made a surprise announcement that he would abandon politics in favor of business within the election.
The week's political chaos delivered a serious and unexpected victory for Treasurer Jim Chalmers, but a serious defeat for Special Minister of State Don Farrell.
After the Liberals refused to support laws in September to separate the Reserve Bank board and create a special interest rate-setting committee, the plan appeared dead. But a late cope with the Greens served its purpose. Chalmers gets his restructured bank after giving in to the Greens' demand that the Treasurer retain the present (never used) right to override the bank's rates of interest.
Earlier this week the Greens agreed (without making any concessions) to support Labour's housing laws. It seems that the smaller party is putting on pragmatic clothing within the run-up to the election.
Farrell unveiled his sweeping electoral reforms aimed toward reining in “big money” just before the two-week session.
The man they call the “Godfather” still thought as late as Wednesday morning that he would finally reach what gave the look of an agreement in principle with the Liberals.
Mick Tsikas/AAP
Then on Wednesday afternoon, Opposition Leader Peter Dutton sat down with Farrell within the minister's office. The Liberals wanted higher disclosure and donation limits. There were also heated arguments over the treatment of peak bodies comparable to the ACTU and the Business Council. Despite Farrell's willingness to be flexible, the proposed agreement fell through.
On Thursday morning, the federal government was forced to announce that Farrell would proceed discussions – which have already spanned much of the parliamentary term – over the summer within the hope of passing the law in February.
This assumes that Parliament returns in February – Albanese said on Thursday evening: “We fully expect that we will meet in February” – and that critics of the proposals don’t gain the upper hand. Reforming the electoral donations and spending system was a serious commitment of the Labor Party. Ultimately, the legislative push got here too late. Lots still must occur to ensure that the measures (which are usually not resulting from come into force until the center of the following legislative period) to be passed before the election.
The bill, which might ban children under 16 from accessing various social media sites, was passed but was also poorly implemented. While many individuals will think it's good that the laws passed, the method was horrific.
The ban could be very controversial, with many experts criticizing it. It was all of the more vital that laws be subject to appropriate parliamentary control. More than 15,000 submissions were received by the Senate committee examining the bill. The committee only took one morning's evidence on Monday and delivered its report on Tuesday.
As Labor tried to push dozens of bills through the Senate on Thursday, it had to make use of the guillotine to curb debate. However, this plan was initially rejected.
Enter Albanese. On a rare day of business and commerce, Santa arrived early.
ACT Independent David Pocock's support for the rapid passage of bills was secured by various small details, including, because the senator said in a press release, two “significant measures that will be announced in the coming days”.
Greens' spirits were lifted by the $500 million cost of public housing upgrades. There was also a commitment to “no coal, oil and gas development in Future Made in Australia”.
Albanese was personally involved within the negotiations with Pocock and the Greens.
Some interpreted the federal government's hectic pace as a sign of likely elections in March. But that’s an over-interpretation, because even the Prime Minister's acceptance gave him leeway. If the Prime Minister desires to call an election in March, it is helpful to clear the cards (albeit partially), but that doesn’t mean he’ll accomplish that.
A March poll would present the awkward problem of overlapping with the Western Australian election campaign.
Anything involving WA is a trigger for Albanese, who won numerous seats there in 2022 and may't afford too many losses within the state next yr.
On Monday, Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek and the Greens reached an agreement, reportedly agreed to by the Prime Minister, to establish a brand new environmental watchdog to watch compliance with environmental laws. On Tuesday, Albanese canceled the deal.
Washington Prime Minister Roger Cook, who announced his conversation with the prime minister about election dates earlier this month, explained at a news conference on Wednesday how he ensured the bill wouldn’t be implemented.
Cook said he had a conversation “at the highest levels of the federal government” on Tuesday. He had reiterated the WA view that the Nature Positive laws shouldn’t be implemented in its current form. He had been assured that it might not proceed this week.
Albanese had his own version on ABC on Thursday nights. The “legislation remains stuck in the Senate,” he said. “We didn’t have a majority for it.”
He added: “I was the negotiator.”
Once again Albanese has dealt a blow to Plibersek, who he added to the environment portfolio when she had expected to get the education post for which she had been shadow minister. For Plibersek it was a character-building election period.
image credit : theconversation.com